Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback declared a state of emergency late Tuesday after an apparent tornado struck Harveyville, part of a powerful storm system that pounded the state's midsection.

At least 9 are injured after a small Kansas town was hit by a tornado Tuesday night, Fox affiliate KTMJ reports. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback declared a state of emergency after the tornado struck Harveyville, Kansas, a town of about 240 people. The storm was part of a powerful storm system that pounded the state's midsection.

The declaration covers Wabaunsee County, southwest of Topeka. A news release from the governor's office said one person was critically injured and "a number of homes" and a church were damaged, and trees and power lines were down. The sheriff of Wabaunsee County told KTMJ the town was 40-60 percent destroyed. One person was reportedly airlifted to the hospital and at least 8 others were injured.

Earlier, the National Weather Service reported brief tornado touchdowns southwest of Hutchinson. Elsewhere in central Kansas, trained spotters and law enforcement reported hail the size of golf balls and winds estimated at 70 mph Tuesday night north of Hillsboro in Marion County. - FOX News.

UPDATE: 13 Killed As Tornadoes Rake Midwest States!

At least 13 people were killed overnight as a line of tornadoes marched across the Midwest, flattening parts of several towns, officials said Wednesday. Hardest hit was Harrisburg, Ill., where 10 deaths were reported, along with nearly 100 injuries and at least 200 homes destroyed or damaged.Forecasters warned more twisters could strike the Tennessee Valley and southern Appalachians through Wednesday evening as the storm system moved east. Ten of the deaths occurred in Harrisburg, the local coroner told state officials. What is thought to have been a tornado swept through the town around 5 a.m. local time, destroying 35-40 homes, according

Three other deaths were reported in Missouri, where storms included a suspected tornado that hit a mobile home park outside the town of Buffalo. One person died in the mobile home park and around a dozen people were injured. Two others died in the Cassville and Puxico areas of Missouri.On Tuesday night, at least 8 people were injured when a suspected tornado ripped through Harveyville, Kan. At least three of the injured are in critical condition, according to weather.com, and 40 percent of the town suffered damage.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback issued a disaster declaration for the area, parts of which were without power. Other hard-hit areas included Branson, the tourist hub, and Lebanon in Missouri. In Branson, 32 people were treated at one hospital for injuries, mostly cuts and bruises. An apparent tornado moved through downtown Branson, heavily damaging the city's famous theaters and hopscotching up Highway 76, uprooting road signs and scattering debris. The injuries could have been far worse had the storm hit next week, when the tourist season begins. "If it was a week later, it'd be a different story," said Bill Tirone, assistant general manager for the 530-room Hilton and adjacent Branson Convention Center, where windows were shattered and some rooms had furniture sucked away by high winds. Hotel workers were able to get all guests to safety as the storm raged. - KCENTV.

A "crack" in Earth's magnetic field has opened the way for yet
another thrilling display of the northern lights near the top of the
world.

The AuroraMAX wide-angle camera snapped this picture of the northern
lights over Yellowknife
in Canada's Northwest Territories early Feb. 27.
For more from AuroraMAX, check out theproject's website and Twitpic gallery.

We're in the middle of an upswing in the sun's 11-year
activity cycle, leading up to an expected peak in 2013. If solar storms
get too intense, there could be a heightened risk of outages in
satellite communication and electrical grids. But fortunately, the only
significant effects from the solar outbursts so far have come in the
form of heightened auroras, occasionally ranging as far south as Nebraska. Auroras arise due to the interaction of Earth's magnetosphere with
electrically charged particles streaming from the sun. That interaction
energizes atmospheric oxygen and nitrogen in the ionosphere, causing
ripples of greenish and reddish light between 60 and 200 miles up in
Earth's polar regions.

Here are a few other photos from this week's auroral displays, plus two video extras. One is "Temporal Distortion,"
a time-lapse tribute to the aurora and other wonders of the night sky
by Dakotalapse photographer Randy Halverson. It includes some of the
auroral imagery we featured back in October,
and features original music by Bear McCreary, the award-winning
composer for TV shows such as "Walking Dead" and "Battlestar Galactica." The other is David Peterson's compilation of time-lapse videos
captured by astronauts on the International Space Station, including
some primo views of the aurora from above. Here's what NASA's Mike
Fossum, a former space station resident, had to say about the clip: "This is the best video I've seen from photos we took on ISS! Stunning!!" Can't argue with that... - Cosmic Log/MSNBC.

A massive area of tropical cloud is stretching right down into parts of New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria with thunderstorms also lined up across the system. This cloud band is generating massive rainfall totals with numerous severe weather warnings also triggered for the region. Flooding is a concern for the region.

Heavy rain that flooded parts of Victoria and South Australia during the past few days is now spreading into southern NSW, prompting numerous flood watches. During the past 24 hours, central and northern parts of Victoria were drenched with 50 to 100mm of rain, leading to flash flooding, Weatherzone meteorologist Josh Fisher says. The largest totals fell on and north of the Great Dividing Range, where some areas even gained more than 100mm. Yarrawonga was flooded with 120mm of rain during 24 hours yesterday, which was its heaviest daily total in more than a decade. Castlemaine gained 98mm of rain in the same period, which was its heaviest since the floods of last February, when 101mm fell in 24 hours. The trigger for the heavy rain and storm activity is a slow-moving low pressure trough, which is funnelling massive amounts of moisture across the country. This moisture is being drawn off the very warm waters that are surrounding the nation. The trough is slowly pushing further north, which has allowed rain to temporarily ease over Victoria. The severe weather warning for flash flooding has been cancelled for the state, but residents are urged to take caution near floodwaters and swollen rivers. New South Wales will now bear the brunt of the rain as the trough stalls over the state. Prolonged heavy rain will affect southern, central and western parts of the state from today through to the weekend. As a result, a severe weather warning for flash flooding is in place for people in the upper western, ACT, Riverina, lower western, central west slopes & plains, south west slopes, Snowy Mountains and southern tablelands. For these districts, daily rainfall totals are likely to range between 50 and 100mm with some areas expected to receive more than 200mm before this rain event tapers off early next week. - The Land.

Evacuations are underway in one town and emergency crews are standing by in three others as large parts of New South Wales continue to be deluged with the heaviest rains in more than 80 years.

Seventy residents have been forced from homes on 19 properties at Cowra in the state's central west, with rising flood waters threatening to leave them stranded, the State Emergency Service says. Evacuation warnings are current for Cooma in the Snowy Mountains, with up to 300 people at risk, and parts of the southern tablelands township of Goulburn, where the Wollondilly Creek is threatening to burst its banks. Orders are also in place at Captains Flat south of Queanbeyan, while crews are keeping an eye on the swollen Murrumbidgee River at Cootamundra in the Riverina, an SES spokesman says. Sydney's Warragamba Dam is also on the verge of overflowing for the first time in more than a decade. Sydney Catchment Authority acting chief executive Sarah Dinning says preparations are being made to release excess water, with floodgates to be tested tomorrow morning. "Due to the variable weather conditions, we have staff available around the clock and the test will occur as soon as the dam reaches one metre below full storage," she said. "Once Warragamba Dam is 80mm above its full storage level the drum gate opens automatically." Heavy falls are expected to continue until at least the weekend, throwing transport into chaos across NSW and stretching emergency crews. A number of highways have been cut off with previously drought-stricken areas swamped with rain. The Illawarra Highway south of Sydney was closed today while the Barrier Highway in the state's far west was also cut off, stranding travellers between Broken Hill and the South Australian border as the mining town received its heaviest downpour in 12 years. Longer standing rain records were also broken, with Coolamon in the Riverina bucketed with 123mm in 24 hours, marking the wettest day since 1925. Nearby Grong Grong recorded 111mm, the wettest day since 1928. SES crews remain on standby to evacuate residents at Cooma if flash flooding occurs. - Herald Sun.

WATCH: Australian weather update.

WATCH: Stormy summer - Cooma residents have been told to prepare to evacuate and Goulburn is expecting flash flooding, while the Warragamba dam water level is expected to rise to breaking point.

Former astronaut Edgar Mitchell is convinced extraterrestrials have been observing our planet for some time. "They are still here", he says.

Mitchell states that one of the reason for the UFO cover-up has been fear. He says that it is time this ongoing denial and cover-up ends. In the following interview with WPTV, he reveals his thoughts on the subject and explains that there could be billions of extraterrestrial civilizations in the galaxy.

He says, “I don’t know how many or where or how they’re doing it but they been observing us here for quite some time and we see these craft all the time. I believe what I’m saying and I cite the evidence that I know. “ According to WPTV reporter Tim Malloy, “Mitchell is unbothered by critics who think the guy with the right stuff has taken a wrong turn. He has no doubt that there are alien craft observing Earth right now and many more out there looking for us.”

Malloy asked Mitchell, “How many civilizations do you believe are out there?” Mitchell answered, “Billions. There are billions and billions of stars in the galaxy, and billions and billions of galaxies doesn’t take but a few planets around a few stars to have quite a few civilizations.” Dr. Mitchell is one of only 12 people who have walked on the moon. He said he has never personally seen an alien but believes people who have.

Natural calamities are taking a toll on provinces in western China. In the north, people suffer from severe snowstorms, while southwestern areas are coping with prolonged drought.

Cold weather continues to plague the northwestern Xinjiang region of China. Over $900,000 of damage was reported, according to state media. Barns, houses, and livestock have all fell victim to the freezing temperatures. Meanwhile in the southwestern Yunnan province, some villagers haven’t seen rain since last November. Over six million people are affected by the drought.

[Li Yingqi, Yanjiao, Yunnan Province Resident]: "It's very difficult for our village. If the drought goes on for another two days, we'll have to fetch water from three kilometers (1.86 miles) away and carry it back on our cattle. There's nothing we can do. We don't have a pump to transport water." State media announced on Wednesday that $19 million has been set aside to assist the areas worst hit by the drought. - NTD.

Ireland has shocked Europe with plans for a referendum on the EU's fiscal treaty, a move that risks an unprecedented fragmentation of the eurozone and a major clash with Germany.

Premier Enda Kenny said Dublin was acting on legal advice from Ireland's attorney-general that "on balance" the fiscal compact requires a vote under the country's constitution. "It gives the Irish people the opportunity to reaffirm Ireland's commitment to membership of the euro," he told ashen-faced members of the Dail. All three major parties back the treaty but analysts say there is a high risk of rejection by angry voters in the current fractious mood. The compact gives the EU intrusive powers to police the budgets of debtor states, and has been denounced as feudal bondage by Sinn Fein and Ireland's vociferous eurosceptics. The Irish voted "No" to both the Nice and Lisbon treaties before being made to vote again. Dublin has ruled out a second vote this time. The Taoiseach's announcement sent the euro into sharp dive against the dollar, though it rebounded later. Europe's leaders thought they had tweaked the wording of the text just enough to avoid an Irish vote. Ireland cannot stop the process since a quorum of 12 states brings the treaty into force, but it would be politically untenable to create a new eurozone structure that left one member in limbo. German Chancellor Angela Merkel reacted with fury last November when Greece, which on Tuesday night approved €3.2bn of new budget cuts, unexpectedly called a referendum on the terms of its bail-out. Ireland's move may also rankle, even if deemed less capricious.

The fiscal compact has totemic significance in Berlin and any sign that the package is fraying may harden opposition in the Bundestag to further EMU rescue measures. Mrs Merkel suffered a serious blow on Monday when she had to rely on opposition votes to pass the Greek loan package due to mounting defections in her own ranks. Her coalition base is in revolt over demands from Brussels and the International Monetary Fund for a boost in the EU rescue machinery (ESM) to €750bn (£635bn), the unspoken condition imposed by the rest of the world for unlocking global aid. Any decision has been postponed until after this week's EU summit. The new requests would push the German share of the funding to well over €300bn, breaching a €211bn ceiling set by the Bundestag in September. Ireland will continue to receive loans under its €67bn package from the EU-ECB-IMF "Troika" even if it votes "No" but would be in serious trouble if it needed a second package later. The fiscal compact forbids to use of the ESM bail-out fund for non-signatories. While Ireland's vibrant exports have helped pull the economy out of a death spiral, austerity is still biting deeper. Dublin house prices fell another 4pc in January from a month earlier and are down 57pc from the peak. The money supply is imploding, with real M1 deposits falling at a 9.2pc rate over the past six months. There was further bad news in Spain, where it emerged that relapse into recession and ballooning deficits in the regions had pushed the budget deficit to 8.5pc for last year, far above the 6pc target. The new government of Mariano Rajoy has concluded that it would be "suicidal" to try to slash the deficit to 4.4pc this year to meet EU demands, fearing that it would drive unemployment to 6m, or more than 25pc. Budget minister Cristobal Montoro warned that it would require €43bn of fiscal cuts to comply, but his request for easier terms met a stony response from Brussels. Portugal won Troika approval for the next tranche of money under its €78bn loan package, despite the risk of slippage as recession deepens. "We will not ask for more time or money. There will be no such signal coming from this government," said finance minister Vitor Gaspar. Mr Gaspar defended his orthodox policies from a chorus of critics who say that draconian fiscal cuts will push the economy into a tailspin and prove self-defeating. "Austerity is needed to prevent an even more savage and uncontrollable austerity," he said. The ECB temporarily suspended Greek debt as collateral for bank refinancing, after S&P declared Greece to be in selective default. - Telegraph.

This photograph - showing a gold object of some kind above Baildon Moor - was sent in to the Telegraph & Argus today.

To some, it might appear it is a frisbee or some such object, but
James Hobbs, who took the picture, is convinced it was flying saucer. Mr Hobbs, who works in Shipley and whose office overlooks the moor, said he heard a "loud vibrating noise" while walking there at about 7am today.

Although the picture could be a frisbee or He said: "It was getting
louder and also seemed to be getting closer, I turned around and saw a
large gold object in the sky which was some kind of
spaceship? I was able to get my mobile phone out of my pocket and take
a picture."
In his e-mail to the T&A, Mr Hobbs, who lives in Methley, near
Castleford, added: "I am still in a state of shock by the whole
experience." - Telegraph & Argus.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Severe cold weather has killed 35 children in the past two days in northeastern Afghanistan, an official said Monday.

Children struggling through the snow in Afghanistan's weird weather.

The children died in four remote districts of Badakhshan province after the roads to districts were closed by heavy snow. "Thirty five children died as a result of pneumonia caused by severe
weather in Badakhshan in the past two days," Dr Noor Khawrin a
provincial public health official told AFP. "We have only been able to set up some emergency mobile clinics recently to help the kids there."Afghanistan, a landlocked and mountainous country, has suffered its coldest winter in 15 years. On February 19, the public health ministry said the severe weather had
killed almost 40 children in the country over the course of one month. More than half came from refugee camps on the outskirts of Kabul, which
house thousands of Afghans fleeing war and Taliban intimidation in
southern Afghanistan, according to officials. - Terra Daily.

WATCH: Deaths as Kabul freezes over (Al Jazeera report from earlier this month).

A huge dolphin pod 'stampede' was captured on camera on Thursday as amazed onlookers in a passing boat caught a glimpse of the Fin-tastic phenomenon.

The shots of the massive cluster of surfacing dolphins was filmed from the Dana Pride, a boat for whale and dolphin watching, operated by Dana Point Whale Watch in southern California. The mega-pod of dolphins is thought to number close to 2,000, far greater than the average pod of around 12 dolphins. But what was the cause?

An unsettling report prepared by Viktor Seleznyov, director of the
Geophysical Institute at the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of
Sciences (SB RAS), on the 6.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the Tyva Republic in Russia’s East Siberia earlier today warns
that more seismic activity should be expected within the coming weeks
and that this event is part of an ever increasing body of evidence
pointing to a “rapid” shifting in our Earth’s magnetic poles.

Director Seleznyov, and other SB RAS scientists, have been increasingly concerned over the past fortnight about this region after the 9 February and 12 February “mysterious blasts” in the Kemerovo Region reminiscent of the 30 June 1908 Tunguska Event that remains the largest explosion of its type in modern times that for over a century has yet to be fully explained. The “common linkage” between
these mysterious explosions and increasing seismic events in Siberia,
this report says, is due to the rapid shifting of our Earth’s magnetic North Pole that has doubled in the last 50 years, and in the 1990s “picked up speed in a big way,” bolting north–northwest into the Arctic Ocean at more than 55 kilometers per year. To the most immediate effect upon our Earth due to this “magnetic pole anomaly,” this report continues, has been the “strange disruption” of the jet stream over the Northern Hemisphere
that on the North American side has produced the driest and warmest
winter weather in recorded history, but on the European side has caused record-setting cold and snow that has claimed over 650 lives. Though Director Seleznyov notes in this report that the evidence for a “full scale”geomagnetic reversal of the positions of magnetic north and magnetic south are still being debated, our Earth is, “without a doubt,” currently undergoing a Laschamp-type geomagnetic“event” known as a geomagnetic excursion. A geomagnetic excursion, like a geomagnetic reversal, is a significant change in the Earth’s magnetic field.
Unlike reversals however, an excursion does not permanently change the
large-scale orientation of the field, but rather represents a dramatic,
typically short-lived decrease in field intensity, with a variation in
pole orientation of up to 45 degrees from the previous position.

Things on the sun have certainly been heating up. Our closest star
unleashed five solar eruptions in only two days last week, producing
extraordinary northern lights displays for lucky skywatchers over the
weekend.

The solar storms flared up
between Feb. 23 and 24 and exploded from nearly all areas of the star,
including the top, bottom, left and right sides of the solar disk as
seen by space-based observatories, according to NASA scientists. In
fact, four of these outbursts came within a single 24-hour period. One of the eruptions churned out an impressive magnetic filament in the
early hours of Feb. 24. This triggered the first of two coronal mass
ejections (CMEs) that were blasted toward Earth. CMEs are massive
eruptions of solar plasma and charged particles that can produce
potentially harmful geomagnetic storms when the they hit Earth's
magnetic field lines. Scientists closely monitor these events because the most powerful
geomagnetic storms can disrupt satellites in orbit, cause communications
interference, and damage other electronic infrastructure. But, one of
the less harmful effects of geomagnetic storms is that they can amp up
normal displays of Earth's auroras (also known as the northern and
southern lights). The Feb. 24 eruption was captured in a video by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.
The filament, which is visible in the extreme ultraviolet wavelength,
shoots out from the sun, sending clouds of plasma into space. Filaments are strands of darker, cooler solar material that hover above
the surface of the sun by magnetic forces, NASA scientists explained. The CME from the Feb. 24 solar eruption was weak, however, and did not
set off a strong geomagnetic storm, NASA scientists said. After
traveling through space, the CME hit Earth's magnetic field on Feb. 26
at 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT). While the CME did not pack much of a punch, skywatchers at high latitudes were treated to stunning auroras
on Feb. 26. Beautiful celestial light shows were reported were reported
in Scandinavia and elsewhere around the Arctic Circle, according to
website Spaceweather.com. - SPACE.

AURORA
OUTBURST: Last night, for the second
night in a row, sky watchers around the Arctic Circle
witnessed an impressive display of auroras. "I've
never seen anything close to this," says Aaro
Kukkohovi, who photographed an eruption of light
over Lumijoki, Finland. "What a fantastic burst of energy--like
something blew a hole into Earth's magnetic field
just above us!" His rhetorical flourish isn't far
wrong. The cause of the display was the interplanetary
magnetic field (IMF)
tipping south and opening a 'crack'
in Earth's magnetosphere. Solar wind poured in and
fueled a G1-class
geomagnetic storm. This was a high latitude event;
the lights were brightest over Scandinavia, Iceland
and Greenland.

At least one person has died and nearly 120,000 people have been affected in floods over the past few days in northeast Brazil.

Over 12,000 people have lost their homes in the state of Acre due to floods triggered by rain, the defence ministry said. More than 100,000 people were temporarily relocated. Several towns in Acre have declared a state of emergency, including the state capital Rio Branco. The water-level in Acre river continued to rise. The federal government has announced a five-million reais ($3 million) for relief work. The rain was expected to continue in the next days. - Hindustan Times.

Northwest Brazil is affected by floods due to heavy rains which has left one dead and 12,000 homelessover the past few days in the state of Acre. Over 120,000 people are affected from the scene due to floods, triggered by rain. The defense Ministry informed that more than 100,000 people were temporarily relocated. Several towns in Acre have declared a state of emergency, including the state capital Rio Branco. The water-level in Acre river continued to rise. The federal government has announced a five-million reais ($3 million) for relief work. Army and administration unit is providing help to the suffered. - Parda Phash.

Israeli officials say they won't warn the U.S. if they decide to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, according to one U.S. intelligence official familiar with the discussions. The pronouncement, delivered in a series of private, top-level conversations, sets a tense tone ahead of meetings in the coming days at the White House and Capitol Hill.

Israeli officials said that if they eventually decide a strike is necessary, they would keep the Americans in the dark to decrease the likelihood that the U.S. would be held responsible for failing to stop Israel's potential attack. The U.S. has been working with the Israelis for months to persuade them that an attack would be only a temporary setback to Iran's nuclear program. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak delivered the message to a series of top-level U.S. visitors to the country, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the White House national security adviser and the director of national intelligence, and top U.S. lawmakers, all trying to close the trust gap between Israel and the U.S. over how to deal with Iran's nuclear ambitions. Netanyahu delivered the same message to all the Americans who have traveled to Israel for talks, the U.S. official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive strategic negotiations. The White House did not respond to requests for comment, and the Pentagon and Office of Director of National Intelligence declined to comment, as did the Israeli Embassy. - Huffington Post.

Meanwhile, even as it continued to talk with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Iran continued to prepare for war over its nuclear weapons program, training for kamikaze attacks in the Persian Gulf with both planes and speedboats, sources within the Iranian armed forces report.

Tuesday the International Atomic Energy Agency called its recent talks with Iran a failure. And just days before, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered the Revolutionary Guards, along with the army, on high alert, ready with conventional and unconventional means to respond to any aggression by the U.S. or Israel over its nuclear weapons program, the sources say. The Guards’ missile commanders, in their preparation for a fierce counterattack, have mapped out all U.S. bases in the region to strike with their missiles in order to disrupt America’s air sorties, believing they will be the main thrust of any attack by America. The Guards’ publication Mashregh, in a warning to America,
revealed a detailed plan to attack U.S. bases in the region, including,
in Kuwait, two air bases, Ali Al Salem and Ahmed Al Jaber, and the U.S.
military camps of Buehring, Spearhead, Patriot and Arifjan. Also
targeted are U.S. air bases in Afghanistan, the super U.S. base Al Adid
in Qatar, its other super base at Al Dhafra in the United Arab Emirates
and Thumrait Air Base in Oman. Guards’ plans include the launch of ballistic missiles at the narrow
Strait of Hormuz from deep within Iran to disrupt the flow of oil and
destabilize the world economy.Iran has the largest and most diverse ballistic missiles arsenal in
the region, some with a range of over 2,000 miles, capable of either
carrying a one-ton conventional payload or a nuclear warhead. The
Islamic regime is currently working with China and North Korea on intercontinental ballistic missiles with a range of over 6,000 miles, capable of reaching America. The Guards have also armed hundreds of speed boats with high
explosives for suicide attacks against U.S. Navy assets and the shipping
traffic in the Gulf. Sources within the Guards also reveal that the
Guards have been training pilots for suicide attacks against U.S. assets
in the Gulf by using smaller planes loaded with explosives. According to Sepahonline,
the outlet close to sources in the Revolutionary Guards, these
kamikaze-style attacks by planes are being prepared in southern Iran.
The Guards purchased Lycoming aircraft engines through a third party in
Germany. The engines were then transferred to Azerbaijan and from there
to Iran. The planes being prepared for the kamikaze attacks are light Cessnas
armed with high explosives. Sixty of them are being kept at the Bandar
Abbas air-force base in Iran. The Guards have also transferred anti-ship cruise missiles to Qeshm
and Abu Musa islands. The anti-ship ballistic missiles include the
Khalij Fars (Persian Gulf), with a range of 186 miles and 1,400-pound
explosive warheads, and the Ghadr cruise missile, with similar range
equipped with radar-evasion technology traveling at low altitudes. The
latter are claimed to be capable of sinking giant warships, including
aircraft carriers, and could be a game changer in countering the U.S.
naval presence in the Persian Gulf. - WND.

In addition, DEBKA's military sources are reporting that the Russians have upgraded their Jabal Al
Harrah electronic and surveillance station south of Damascus opposite
Israel’s Sea of Galilee, adding resources especially tailored to give
Tehran early warning of an oncoming US or Israeli attack.

Before it was boosted by extra advanced technology and manpower, the station covered civilian and military movements in northern Israel up to Tel Aviv, northern Jordan and western Iraq. Today, its range extends to all parts of Israel and Jordan, the Gulf of Aqaba and northern Saudi Arabia. Part two of Moscow’s project for extending the range of its Middle East ears and eyes consisted of upgrading the Russian-equipped Syrian radar stationed on Lebanon’s Mount Sannine and connecting it to the Jabal Al Harrah facility in Syria. Russian technicians have completed this project too. Russia is now able to additionally track US and Israeli naval and aerial movements in the Eastern Mediterranean up to and including Cyprus and Greece. According to our sources, the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kutznetsov’s stay at the Syrian port of Tartus through most of January and up to mid-February had the special mission of keeping an eye out for any Israeli preparations for attacking Iran, Syria or Hizballah. It filled the gap left by the Russian station south of Damascus which was fully occupied with feeding data on Syrian opposition movements to Bashar Assad and watching out for signs of foreign intervention, military or covert, against his regime. The Russian vessel meanwhile followed increased traffic of US drone over Syria keeping track of the Syrian arsenal of missiles with chemical, biological and nerve gas warheads. Washington disclosed on Feb. 25 that the US State Department had sent out warnings to six countries, Israel, Turkey, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iraq, to beware of these deadly weapons. It was not clear whether the warning referred to a possible Assad regime’s decision to use WMD against those nations or the danger of their transfer to terrorists embedded within those countries. Moscow decided to boost its radar tracking and surveillance reach for Iran’s benefit in response to a complaint from Tehran that it could not longer count on Russia for a real-time alert on an incoming US or Israeli military strike, because those resources were stretched to the limit in support of the Assad regime. After expanding and upgrading their range to meet Iranian needs by interconnecting the two stations and adding extra Russian manpower, Moscow ordered the Admiral Kutznetsov to depart Tartus on Feb. 13 and sail to home port at Severomorsk on the Kola Peninsula. The Russian stations in Syria and Lebanon were by then ready for their expanded missions. - DEBKA.

All this, against the background of, seemingly distrust between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu that could threaten the consensus for action on Iran; as they prepare to meet in Washington on March 5 to thrash out their differences.

WATCH: Former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinksi has warned
Washington not to attack Iran and even prevent Israel from launching a
military strike against the country.

All eyes are on the asteroid Apophis, but a new threat--just
460 feet wide--dominated the conversation at a recent meeting of the UN
Action Team on near-Earth objects (NEOs). Known as 2011 AG5, the
asteroid could well be on a collision course with Earth in 2040, and
some are already calling on scientists to figure out how to deflect it.

Earth, and the Near-Earth Objects that threaten it.

Discovered early last year, 2011 AG5 is still somewhat of a mystery
to astronomers, as they have a pretty good idea how big it is but have
only been able to observe it for roughly half an orbit. That makes it
difficult to project the objects path over time--and to verify whether
it may be a threat in 2040. Ideally, researchers would like to observe
at least two full orbits before making projections about an NEO’s path,
but that hasn’t stopped several in the astronomy from fixing odds on an
impact in 2040. Specifically, those odds are currently at 1 in 625 for an impact on Feb.
5, 2040. But like most odds, these are fluid. From 2013 to 2016, the
asteroid will be observable from the ground, and that will give NEO
watchers a better idea of its orbit and future trajectory. If those
observations don’t vastly diminish the odds of an impact, there should
still be time to do something about it before its 2023 keyhole pass.

Like Apophis, which may or may not impact Earth in 2036, 2011 AG5 has
a keyhole--a region is space near Earth through which it would travel
if indeed it is going to impact us on its next pass. It will make its
keyhole pass on its approach near Earth in February 2023 when it comes
within just 0.02 astronomical units of Earth (that’s roughly 1.86
million miles). NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab estimates 2011 AG5’s keyhole
is about 62 miles wide--not big at all by astronomical standards, but
bigger than Apophis’s. If 2011 AG5 does look like it is going to pass through that keyhole
after the 2013-2016 observations, scientists will have a few years to
figure out how to alter its orbit and push it outside of the keyhole in
2023, thus averting disaster 17 years later. Such a deflection mission
could be good practice. Apophis will make a run at its keyhole in 2029. - POPSCI.

Standard & Poor's downgraded Greece's credit rating Monday to
"selective default" after the government took legal steps to impose
losses on all holders of Greek government bonds.

The move, which
had been expected, was prompted by Greece's decision last week to insert
"collective action clauses" into the contracts of most Greek government
bonds, S&P said in a statement. In March, Greece is expected to finalize a deal with investors to write down 53% of its debt held by the private sector as part of a second €130 billion bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. The
collective action clauses would give Greece the power to force losses
on bondholders who refused to take part in the agreement, which involves
investors exchanging government debt for securities with lower interest
rates.

S&P said that unilaterally changing the terms of the
bond contracts constitutes "a de facto restructuring and thus a
default" under its definitions. Greece would face "an imminent
outright payment default" if a sufficient number of investors do not
accept the debt exchange, S&P said. Greek bondholders must
decide on the offer by March 12 in order for Greece to secure the
bailout money it needs to make a €14.5 billion bond payment on March 20. Meanwhile,
S&P said it would likely consider the selective default "cured"
once the debt swap is officially "consummated." At that point, the
agency said it could restore the nation's previous "CCC" credit rating. Even a CCC rating would signify that Greece still had a bleak economic outlook and unsustainable debt.

Greece
has been struggling to avoid a default for over two years as the
nation's economy has sunk deeper into recession and the government has
been shut out of the bond market. To qualify for its second
bailout, Greece is scrambling to enact a series of austerity measures
linked to its initial 2010 rescue and has pledged to undertake
structural reforms to make its economy more competitive. On Monday, German lawmakers approved the second rescue package for Greece, which is deeply unpopular in Germany. But many economists say Greece will not be able to avoid a default without more support or additional restructuring. - CNN Money.

Meanwhile, in a stark warning ahead of next month’s Budget for the United Kingdom, the Chancellor said there was
little the Coalition could do to stimulate the economy.

Mr Osborne made it clear that due to the parlous state of the public finances
the best hope for economic growth was to encourage businesses to flourish
and hire more workers.“The British Government has run out of money because all the money was spent
in the good years,” the Chancellor said. “The money and the investment and
the jobs need to come from the private sector.” He left David Laws, his successor, a one-line note saying: “Dear Chief
Secretary, I’m afraid to tell you there’s no money left”. Mr Osborne is under severe pressure to boost growth, amid signs the economy is
slipping back into a recession. The Institute of Fiscal Studies has urged him to consider emergency tax cuts
in the Budget to reduce the risk of a prolonged economic slump.But the Chancellor yesterday said he would stand firm on his effort to balance
the books by refusing to borrow money. “Any tax cut would have to be paid
for,” Mr Osborne told Sky News. “In other words there would have to be a tax
rise somewhere else or a spending reduction. “In other words what we are not going to do in this Budget is borrow more
money to either increase spending or cut taxes.” - Telegraph.

Britain is facing years of freezing winters because of the dramatic decline in Arctic sea ice, say scientists. Global warming means autumn levels of sea ice have dropped by almost 30 per cent since 1979 - but this is likely to trigger more frequent cold snaps such as those that brought blizzards to the UK earlier this month. And Arctic sea ice could be to blame.

Dr Jiping Liu and colleagues studied the extensive retreat of the ice in the summer and its slow recovery focusing on the impacts of this phenomenon on weather in the Northern Hemisphere. Information about snow cover, sea level pressure, surface air temperature and humidity was used to generate model simulations for the years 1979 to 2010. The researchers say dramatic loss of ice may alter atmospheric circulation patterns and weaken the westerly winds that blow across the North Atlantic Ocean from Canada to Europe. This will encourage regular incursions of cold air from the Arctic into Northern continents - increasing heavy snowfall in the UK. Dr Liu said: ‘The results of this study add to an increasing body of both observational and modeling evidence that indicates diminishing Arctic sea ice plays a critical role in driving recent cold and snowy winters over large parts of North America, Europe and east Asia.’ While the Arctic region has been warming strongly in recent decades there has been abnormally large snowfall in these areas.

Dr Liu, of Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, said: ‘Here we demonstrate the decrease in autumn Arctic sea ice area is linked to changes in the winter Northern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation. ‘This circulation change results in more frequent episodes of blocking patterns that lead to increased cold surges over large parts of northern continents. ‘Moreover, the increase in atmospheric water vapour content in the Arctic region during late autumn and winter driven locally by the reduction of sea ice provides enhanced moisture sources, supporting increased heavy snowfall in Europe during early winter and the northeastern and midwestern United States during winter. ‘We conclude the recent decline of Arctic sea ice has played a critical role in recent cold and snowy winters.’ In November research showed there is less Arctic sea ice now than there has been at any time in the last 1,450 years. - Daily Mail.

WATCH: Effects of extremely cold weather in Europe on the shores of Lake Geneva, Switzerland.

Perth has recorded its second hottest summer on record, its hottest summer in 34 years and its wettest summer in 12 years.

SUMMER SIZZLER: Heatwave brings crowds to Cottesloe Beach.

The last time temperatures were so consistently high in Perth was in 1978 and the last time the city had so much rain was in 2000, the Weather Channel says. Chief meteorologist Dick Whitaker said today that the heat was mostly due to record warm surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean.

"Our overall average was 25.5C, still 0.6 degrees below the 1978 record mark of 26.C," he said. Mr Whitaker said Perth's summer rainfall of 118.2mm was nearly four times above the average of 31.3mm, and more than double the 48mm received last summer.

"This was primarily due to a wet December when two separate thunderstorm events produced heavy falls across the area," he said. Mr Whitaker said heading into autumn, Perth was expected to have above average temperatures, but below average rainfall, particularly over the southwest districts, with close to average totals over most other parts of the state. - Herald Sun.

A little snow and rain are falling in a few states today, but the 2011 - 12 winter has been extremely warm and dry across the continental U.S. Meteorologists think they have figured out why. First, a few records: The initial week of January was the driest in history. And more than 95 percent of the U.S. had below-average snow cover - the greatest such percentage ever recorded - according to some intriguing data maps generated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. During December, approximately half of the U.S. had temperatures at least 5 degrees Fahrenheit above average, and more than 1,500 daily record highs were set from January 2 to 8. Europe has seen similar extremes.

An unusual region of atmospheric pressure over the Arctic has kept the polar jet stream (green) locked up at far northern latitudes, causing a warm, dry U.S. winter.

The chief suspect behind the mysterious weather is an atmospheric pressure pattern called the Arctic Oscillation, which circles the high Northern Hemisphere. Its lower edge is known as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Together, the related features influence the path and strength of the jet stream. The jet itself is an air current that flows west to east across the northern latitudes of the U.S., Europe and Asia, altering temperature and precipitation as portions of it dip southward or crest northward. A strong jet stream that flows in a somewhat straight line from west to east, with few southward dips, prevents cold arctic air from drifting south. "The cause of this warm first half of winter is the most extreme configuration of the jet stream ever recorded," according to Jeffrey Masters, a meteorologist who runs the Weather Underground, a Web site that analyzes severe weather data. By "extreme," Masters means that the jet stream was far north and fairly straight, and stayed that way for an unusually long time. That position allowed warm southern air to prevail over the entire U.S., and prevented cold fronts from descending from the north and clashing with warm fronts, creating large snow- and rainstorms. The jet stream has been locked in that position by the NAO for most of the winter, and Masters says it has sustained the largest pressure gradient since tracking began in 1865.

Conversely, December 2010 set record snowfalls in many parts of the U.S. Sure enough, the NAO at that time had some of the lowest pressures ever observed, allowing the jet stream to move south and stay there. Arctic air descended, picked up moisture or interacted with warm fronts, and dropped snow. "The December Arctic Oscillation index has fluctuated wildly over the past six years," Masters notes, "with the two most extreme positive and two most extreme negative values on record." Data for the trends is available at the Weather Underground site. Meteorologists are not certain what causes the oscillations to vary so dramatically. Some scientists say the loss of Arctic sea ice due to global warming is causing the Arctic Oscillation to drop in pressure. Others have noticed a correlation with sunspot activity, which was very low in December 2010 and very high during December 2011, although they haven't proposed a mechanism whereby sunspots would directly alter the Arctic Oscillation. Of course, winter has many weeks to go, so the oscillations, and U.S. weather, could shift. But if plentiful precipitation does not fall, complications could arise for many more people than ski resort owners and their patrons. A small snowpack often leads to spring droughts in the Midwest and summer water shortages in the West as well as a longer wildfire season in the latter because the soil dries out earlier than usual. In the meantime if you want snow, hop a flight to Cordova or Valdez, two towns on Alaska's Pacific coast that are buried under 4.5 to 5.5 meters of snow - with more on the way. They, too, can thank the Arctic Oscillation because, being so high latitude, they lie within the band the jet stream has been stuck in, not south of it. - Scientific American.

Monday, February 27, 2012

At the New York Botanical Garden in
the Bronx, an experimental plot was in full flower on a recent February
afternoon, as the thermometer edged toward 60.

Scenes more like spring, including a Japanese flowering apricot tree,
arrived early at the New York Botanical Garden.

The Japanese camellias, which typically bloom in early spring, have
displayed their rose-hued flowers continuously since December.
Honeybees, a rarity before late March, were nursing the tiny pink
clusters on a Dawn viburnum, while the Adonis amurensis, a
ground-hugging spring ephemeral, was a profusion of yellow. “This is the earliest I’ve seen all of these things in flower,” said
Todd Forrest, the garden’s vice president for horticulture and living
collections. “The ground isn’t even frozen. That’s shocking.” The horticulturalists in the Bronx call it the global-warming garden,
and in a winter notable for its consistent mildness, it is hardly
unusual. From the Shakespeare Garden in Central Park to the Chicago Botanic Garden,
flowering bulbs and other plants are bursting out two to four weeks
ahead of schedule. Snowdrops are up; daffodils, crocuses and hellebores
are already in flower; trailing phlox has opened; and, farther afield,
even magnolia trees are starting to bloom on the National Mall in
Washington.

Complaining about balmy winter days and an early display of color might
seem churlish, but the early run of warm weather is not without its
downside. For one thing, if there is a cold snap, plants and trees are vulnerable
to damaged blossoms and, potentially, a falloff in seed production. With
the ground still soft in many places and no snow cover, squirrels —
already suffering from the acorn shortage
last fall — have been digging up bulbs. Populations of insect pests,
normally kept in check by freezing temperatures, are expected to grow
this year. And when spring finally does arrive a month from now — according to the
calendar anyway — the show might be ho-hum. “You’ll see a long, gradual
kind of spring,” said Maria Hernandez, director of horticulture for the Central Park Conservancy. “But it won’t be the pizazz that we had last spring.”

It is hard to draw conclusions about the pace of warming from a single
winter, and indeed, the last decade in New York City has been one of the
snowiest on record. Still, Fred Gadomski, a meteorologist at
Pennsylvania State University, said that temperatures were above normal
in 80 percent of the days in the past three months in the city. Strong
winds from the Pacific Ocean have blanketed most of the country with
unusually mild air. “That’s the distinguishing item this winter — the consistency of the
mildness,” Mr. Gadomski said. “If you took away that week in mid-January
where it really was sort of cold, it would be the year without a
winter.” Coincidentally, the federal Agriculture Department last month issued a new national map showing plant hardiness zones,
which start with the coldest regions in the north and work their way
south. In its first update since 1990, the map showed clear signs of
things’ heating up. New York City, for instance, moved into a warmer
zone, going from a “warm 6” to a “cold 7,” as Mr. Forrest put it. David W. Wolfe, a professor of plant and soil ecology at Cornell
University and an expert on climate change, said the temperatures this
winter appeared to “represent an extreme,” even within the context of
climate change. But, he said, the federal climate-zone guides from 1960,
1990 and this year reveal “an extremely fast pace” of change. “This winter, when they do the final analysis, will be close to an all-time record breaker,” Dr. Wolfe said. “It’s a rare event." - NY Times.

An undated image of Rincón de la Vieja in Costa Rica. The active crater
is seen in the foreground with a small crater lake. The lake between the
active crater and the forested crater is Los Jilgueros. Santa Maria
volcano is seen in the far background.

Last Thursday (Feb. 22), the volcano experienced two small explosions in the early morning. Seismic records suggest the volcano also had small explosions on Feb. 19 and 20, according to the OVSICORI report for Feb. 25
(PDF). None of the explosions caused any damage to anything near the
volcano and there are no reports of ash fall other than in the crater
itself. These explosions are very similar in style to the September 2011 explosions
that were like phreatic in nature — that is, not new magma but
superheated water generated the explosions. Of course, it is likely that
new magma intruding the volcano is the heat source for the water, but
these explosions could precede a new magmatic eruption by months or
years (or lead to nothing at all). The volcano sits within a national park in Costa Rica and after these explosions, the National Emergency Commission has declared the crater area off-limits to visitors.

The last major eruption from Rincón de la Vieja was in 1966, when it produced at VEI 3 event that generated pyroclastic flows.
All the way back in circa 1820 B.C., the volcano produced the Río
Blanco tephra from a larger VEI 4 eruption. The summit of the volcano
hosts a small crater lake
(see above), which could potentially add to the initial explosivity of
any eruption as the water interacts with erupting magma. There are also abundant mudpots and springs
within the national park as well, attesting to the persistent
geothermal activity in the area. This geothermal activity is the reason
why the Costa Rican government is looking to build a 200 MW geothermal energy plant in the National Park as well. - WIRED.